Blessings in hard times

You know how people say that they never would have experienced or received the blessings they have if they hadn’t gone through trials and hard times? Sounds like a bunch of bunk, doesn’t it? Well, you heard it here… it’s true! Most of the readers of this blog know that just a little over a week ago, I had a miscarriage. I am happy to report that physically I am healing just fine and as far as we know, I have no reason not to believe that I won’t go on to have a perfect pregnancy in the future, which is wonderful. Emotionally, the healing is taking a bit longer and I expect to grieve over this for a long time, maybe even forever, even if just a little bit. What I’m trying to say is that I’ll never forget it, and I know that is normal.

But what I’d rather focus on in this blog post is the love of our friends & family we’ve received during this tragic event. We really debated whether or not to share the news about this, but in the end, we decided we wanted our good friends to know and we needed the prayer support. This is a corporate thank you to all of you who have been thinking about us and praying for us, your kind words in your emails, and for those special few who sent cards, flowers, and made meals for us. You are greatly appreciated!!

And even more important than our dear friends, is our loving and caring Heavenly Father. Through this He has been faithful to us, comforting us, healing us, providing us with hope and grace. I know that we as God’s children experience these things daily, but they seem to be much more evident in difficult times like these.

2 Corinthians 1:3-7 (look it up!)

Ringing in the New Year - in Oklahoma!

This past weekend we got to celebrate Christmas #2 with Bobby’s family in Oklahoma. We arrived late Friday night and came back to St Louis Monday afternoon, so it was another quick weekend getaway. The plane tickets may have been $314, but being with family on New Years was priceless. How about that for cheesiness!?! It is true though.

Saturday afternoon we got to eat lunch with Bobby’s aunt, uncle, & two cousins at our favorite Mexican restaurant, Ted’s. Ok, so normally I don’t really get that excited about Mexican food, but even I love that place – they completely lavish you with chips & cheese dip (and salsa, but who cares about that?!) and keep refilling them to your heart’s content. The service is great and the food is better. And to top it all off, we got sopapillas! Yum!! Saturday night we had a big turkey dinner and opened presents. Sunday morning was a wonderful church service at Heritage PCA, followed by family portraits at Walmart. The rest of the day was spent eating, visiting, playing games, and of course watching the ball drop in NYC at 11:00 pm central time – that anticlimactic event I’ve had to deal with for 4 years now.

Monday afternoon we were all dressed in our official Fiesta Bowl t-shirts

but Bobby and I had to fly back to St Louis to watch the game. And that is what we did – until after midnight! I still can’t believe OU lost, but wow, what a game!!